New graphics cards and HDD

[pevergreen]

So, although I keep thinking that my computer is all brand new and flashy, it isnt really.

I'm planning to do a reinstall of windows, and i thought "What better time to upgrade".

So, its time for a new graphics card. Currently I run a 275.

I'm also thinking about either improving or increasing the quality/number of hard drives i'm using. The slowest point of my computer currently is definately the harddrives.

Currently I was thinking:


Asus GTX560 1G DCII 2DI GDDR5 $305.00
For my new graphics card

and for hard drive, probably one of the flashy new SATA 3 WD blacks. But then I saw the VelociRaptor.

Is that thing even worth it?

Western Digital 600G SATA III VelociRaptor $339.00
Western Digital 2TB SATA3 64M Black(WD2002FAEX) $209.00

Thoughts? Other recommendations?

[Furunculus]

one other option is spend the equivalent of the Western Digital 2TB SATA3 64M Black (£120) on the following:

Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB - £80
Samsung F3 1GB - £40

awesome boot-drive and really fast games drive.

but no, the raptor isn't worth it.

[pevergreen]

Is the F3 better than the WD black?

Sata 6gb/ps vs 3, plus same spindle speed, not seeing where the improvement is coming from, especially with a lower cache?

Then again, reading a review:

These awesome theoretical speeds translate directly into both our MP3 and ISO file patterns in FC-Test. With the MP3 test in particular the F3 is an absolute monster, writing the 1GB file pattern in less than 11 seconds, copying on the drive in an incredible 5.49 seconds and reading the file in an awesome 4 seconds flat!

Although that review was october 09

It is only $57 for me though.

The SSD isnt for sale where I buy my parts, but I gather the SSDs in general are best used as the boot drive, as the fast read times and slower write times?

In fact, it doesn't seem to be for sale in Australia.

Hmmm, none of the SSDs seem to be SATA 3. At least nothing under hundreds of dollars.

I'd be willing to keep looking though, is SSD the best choice for a boot drive?

Similar-ish product:

OCZ 60G Vertex II E Series SSD $139.00

Though its on SATA 2

[Furunculus]

don't worry about SATA 3 (600MB/sec) for mechanical harddrives, none can sustain a faster transfer than 145MB anyway which is less than SATA 1, so the extra bandwidth is useful only until you have exhausted the 64MB cache.

The F3 drives are supposed to make awesome system/games/apps drives given the fast response times and speedy transfer.

Shame the Crucial SSD isn't available in Oz as it is thoroughly brilliant, i have the 128GB version. But again SATA 3 doesn't matter that much as the majority of SSD's don't exceed the 300MB/sec of SATA 2. Yes, they are best used as system/boot drives.

An alternative would be a Sandforce based drive as they are both reliable and cheap, in addition to being very fast.

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p.s. the GTX 560 is a very nice card. but if you can stretch to a 6970 i would recommend that (£200 vs £260).

[pevergreen]

don't worry about SATA 3 (600MB/sec) for mechanical harddrives, none can sustain a faster transfer than 145MB anyway which is less than SATA 1, so the extra bandwidth is useful only until you have exhausted the 64MB cache.

The F3 drives are supposed to make awesome system/games/apps drives given the fast response times and speedy transfer.

Shame the Crucial SSD isn't available in Oz as it is thoroughly brilliant, i have the 128GB version. But again SATA 3 doesn't matter that much as the majority of SSD's don't exceed the 300MB/sec of SATA 2. Yes, they are best used as system/boot drives.

An alternative would be a Sandforce based drive as they are both reliable and cheap, in addition to being very fast.

--------------------------

p.s. the GTX 560 is a very nice card. but if you can stretch to a 6970 i would recommend that (£200 vs £260).

So a 60gb Corsair force series (sandforce controller) is still pretty good?

Its an extra hundred -$170 dollars for the 6970, is it that much better? I'm a much bigger nvidia than ATI person.

Also, since im asking so many questions, what brand for video card? :P

[Furunculus]

So a 60gb Corsair force series (sandforce controller) is still pretty good?

Its an extra hundred -$170 dollars for the 6970, is it that much better? I'm a much bigger nvidia than ATI person.

Also, since im asking so many questions, what brand for video card? :P

It will make a fine boot drive, anandtech loves the Sandforce controller.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3756/2...-take-on-intel

the 6970 is faster, comes with 2GB of memory which will begin to be an advantage, and can run three monitors on its own:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4135/n...-250-market/10

but the 560 is a fine card if those advantages above don't appeal to you.